Italian roots on Schellingstraße
On 23 May 1890 Josef Deutelmoser opens the Osteria Bavaria at Schellingstraße 62 — an italophile Munich publican wanting to express Italy’s connection with Munich through food. Architect Johann Lihm had built the house in 1889/90: three storeys, Neo-Renaissance stucco façade with a corner oriel, upper floors separated by cornices — today listed.
The Deutelmoser family runs it in the old tradition until after the Second World War. Clotilde Salvatori takes over after 1945 and renames the restaurant Osteria Italiana. Since 1998 the landlords are Egidio Sommavilla and Prisco De Stefano. According to its own claim and consistent secondary sources, the house is Germany’s oldest Italian restaurant.
Largely preserved inside
Wood-panelled walls, dark coffered ceilings, a side room as a colonnaded Italian loggia. Murals by Carl Wuttke with a trompe-l’œil view of the Bay of Naples; ceiling paintings with motifs from Greco-Roman mythology and Mediterranean landscapes. The landlords themselves put it this way: “The character of the old wine bar with its wood-panelled walls and dark coffered ceilings has not been changed.”
Hitler’s regular
After being barred from the nearby Schelling-Salon for unpaid bills, Hitler moves to the Osteria Bavaria. It becomes his Munich regular — Albert Speer attests to this in his memoirs. In the late 1920s and 1930s Hitler appears there ever more often with followers and keeps a regulars’ table. After the seizure of power on 30 January 1933 the Osteria remains a popular gathering place for the National Socialists.
A frequent companion of Hitler: Heinrich Hoffmann, his personal photographer — his loud laugh appears in several contemporary accounts. Eva Braun met Hoffmann at his photo studio at Schellingstraße 50 (later Amalienstraße 25) — the Osteria was within walking distance. After their first meeting Hitler often invited her there. In 1935 Hitler also met the British Nazi follower Unity Mitford at the Osteria.
The writer Oskar Maria Graf, who met regularly there with editors of “Simplicissimus”, described the unpleasant impression Hitler and his entourage made in the next room — the Simplicissimus group then moved their meeting place. A piquant detail: on the back of an Osteria menu Hitler sketched first designs for what would later become the “House of German Art”.
Today — and the handling of history
In 2026 the Osteria Italiana still exists unchanged at Schellingstraße 62. Classical Italian cuisine — pasta, meat, fish — a courtyard, and inside the historically preserved fittings. There is no official panel about the Nazi past. According to Tripadvisor reports, the current landlord is said to have refused to mark Hitler’s table with a memorial plaque. Marketing leans on the fine Italian restaurant of 1890 with its ceiling paintings — the history is handled with restraint, and an active engagement with the Nazi past is not part of the house’s public conversation.
Words.
“After the seizure of power on 30 January 1933 the Osteria remained a popular gathering place for the National Socialists.”— Wikipedia · Osteria Italiana
“Italian restaurant since 1890 — the finest Italian restaurant in Germany.”— osteria.de · Own account
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Königsplatz, Honour Temples, Führerbau, Administrative Building, NS-Doku, Schelling-Salon, Osteria, Prinz-Carl-Palais, Consulate General.